Robert B. Hogg

MORE NEW MEMBERS!
Welcome Aboard to all the folks in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Regional Division No. 38 and East Central Catholic S.S.R.D. No 16! We look forward to working with you and serving your assessment needs in the coming years. Together with 5 other new members over the past 12 months, our membership now stands at 32.

The Fall Conference in October 1999 also generated interest in membership from other jurisdictions and we're hoping to welcome _a few more new members by September.

1999 FALL CONFERENCE REVIEW
Last year's fall conference was a great success, with over 350 People attending. Here's a sample of the comments received from participants:
"In terms of personal professional growth, this was one of the best conferences I have attended."
"Awesome! There were 'tons' of hands-on stuff to take with me and use - great!"
"All of the sessions I attended offered excellent insights, information and strategies. I will definitely utilize these in my future teaching and assessment. As a student participant, I really appreciated the break in price, as well as the opportunity to learn amongst experienced teaching and assessment professionals. I hope to be back next year as a 'real' teacher."
"Excellent presenters, superb facility and location. A delightful and informative weekend."
"This was a wonderful conference, not only allowing us time to learn, to reaffirm, to grow, but also a time to share with others."
"I appreciate the 'walk the talk' nature of the rubrics provided to evaluate sessions."
"Please keep the beginning teacher sessions. I found these 3 sessions extremely useful and motivational. As a 2nd year teacher, I feel like these sessions sent me on my way and reinforced current practices in my classroom."
"This was a wonderful experience! The presenters gave advice that was meaningful and practical and I'm pleased with the hand-outs and conference handbook that I can continue to refer to."

We'd like to acknowledge and gratefully thank all the presenters who made this conference so valuable to our members. We'd also like to thank our members for supporting these annual conferences with their attendance and for spreading the word. It takes all of us to make it happen!

2000 FALL CONFERENCE - OCTOBER 26th TO 28th - EDMONTON
This year's conference will be held at the Fantasyland Hotel (West Edmonton Mall) in Edmonton, and features keynotes Ken O'Connor, (author of "The Mindful School: How to Grade for Learning), and Jay McTighe (co-author of "Understanding By Design"). The theme is "Assessment: Bringing Learning to Life" and brochures outlining all the sessions will be distributed to schools early in May. Check our website too, for the latest information available.

SUMMER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP 2000
Each summer AAC brings together teachers from all member jurisdictions across Alberta to provide them with an opportunity to learn about developing everyday assessment tools for the classroom. These new skills are then immediately put to use in creating new material to add to our ever-growing bank of assessment tools (over 350 at present).

This year's summer workshop will be held in Edmonton during the first half of August. A survey will be sent out shortly to member representatives, requesting feedback as to which subject areas they see as requiring more attention. If you have any suggestions, please make them known to your representative (see sidebar). Workshop information and application forms will be posted on our website in April as well as sent out to member representatives for distribution within their districts.

NEW ASSESSMENT MATERIAL
We're in the final stages now of editing and formatting the assessment material created at last summer's workshop. The writers have field-tested their work and included exemplars of students' work with the material. The new process for developing assessment material has taken a little longer than anticipated, but we think you'll find it worth the delay. We're also in the process of converting all the material posted on our website to a pdf format that will make it easier for you to download. Look for new material on our website (www.aac.ab.ca) in the following areas over the next several weeks:

1999 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
At the meeting held in Canmore on October 28th, the 21 member representatives in attendance voted in favor of the following:

• leaving the membership fee structure as is, to ensure equal partnerships and equal votes
• changing bylaws to enable AAC to pro-rate the membership fee for new members joining during the membership year
• electing Sue Zysko (Fort McMurray School District #2833) and Tom Sperling (Wild Rose School Division No. 66) as AAC Executive Committee members for three-year terms

AAC WEBSITE (www.aac.ab.ca)
The AAC web site has a new PowerPoint presentation to support the resource "A Framework For Communicating Student Learning" - it is an overview / introduction that you can save to your hard drive and then use as a presentation with a variety of audiences.

With the addition of this new resource, you will notice that NEW items are flagged on the web site on the contents page. This flag will be used for awhile (perhaps a couple of months or so) to let members know that there is something NEW to see and to use. The next NEW items will include the new assessment materials, detailed information on Fall Conference 2000, and more information on the summer workshop.

FAREWELL AND THANK YOU
Marianne Cadrin has recently decided to pursue new career interests, after four years of dedicated and very fine service to AAC. She will be greatly missed! Marianne will complete her work with AAC by mid-March. All the best to you, Marianne, with sincere appreciation for all that you have done for so many!

BOOK REVIEW
How to Grade for Learning
By Ken O'Connor
Publisher: SkyLight Training and Publishing Inc. 1999 ISBN 1-57517-123-6

"What are your grading practices and what has influenced those practices?"

It is this question that Ken O'Connor asks teachers to consider in his book, How to Grade for Learning. His response provides a thought-provoking look at classroom grading practices and challenges teachers to ensure that their grading practice promotes student learning and achievement.

O'Connor presents practical and engaging case studies to reveal grading challenges faced by teachers every day. The examples, along with the questions he asks, make the reader consider his or her own grading practices, with a view to helping students do their best.

To address the issues involved, and provide common sense solutions O'Connor has developed a set of grading guidelines. He presents his eight guidelines for grading, chapter by chapter, as follows:

1. Individual achievement is the only basis for grades.
2. Sample student performance - do not mark everything and do not include all marks in grades.
3. Grade in pencil - keep records so they may be updated easily.
4. Relate grading procedures to learning goals.
5. Crunch numbers carefully.
6. Use criterion-referenced standards to distribute grades and marks.
7. Use quality assessments and properly record evidence of achievement.
8. Discuss assessment, including grading, with students at the beginning of instruction.

   In his presentation of these guidelines O'Connor challenges common practices which many teachers consider acceptable. Each chapter concludes with 'What's My Thinking Now?'. This promotes teachers' critical thinking about their grading strategies.

   This is a useful resource to work through with the entire staff to pursue consistency of grading practice within a school. Linda Inglis, principal of Velma Baker Elementary School in Edmonton has used the book in professional development activities with her staff. Linda says:

   "O'Connor's book provides thought-provoking quotes, that generate quality conversations about teaching and learning among staff. Information about how assessment can promote and support student learning also gives staff the opportunity to meaningfully reflect on their own practices and to establish fair and reliable assessments and evaluations."

   I strongly recommend this book for teachers and administrators interested in making assessment and evaluation a more meaningful part of the learning cycle.

   Sandra Carl, Teacher Consultant
   Student Assessment
   Edmonton Public Schools

   If you hear a voice within you saying "You are not a painter,"
   then by all means paint . . . and that voice will be silenced.

   Vincent Van Gogh

   
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